Dear John Shipley, Never step on the Pittsburgh Penguins logo
by FrankD on Nov 19, 2008 4:45 PM EST
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So I’m in the Penguins locker room, which is about the size of a port-a-potty, and get chastised for stepping on the logo in the carpet.
Some equipment guy or PR flak comes up to me and says, “Can you please not step on the Penguin?”
Well, if it’s alive I’ll try not to step on the penguin. Or was some symbol representing something more important than a sports team.
Are you kidding me? Wow.
His name is John Shipley, and he stepped on THE logo.
It's been said before but I'll say it again - hockey is a sport founded on tradition. Players and teams take it to heart. That's just how it goes and any writer should know that. Maybe there's a sign on the way to the concourse that all players tap on the way out to the ice. Something like, "It's a great day for hockey" or "Play like champions today." A glove tap on the way out, no matter the actual significance, flicks the switch from "game off" to "game on."
Well in the Penguins locker room (or as John Shipley would put it, "port-a-potty") there's a tradition that all players, personnel and (I thought) writers upheld. Never step on the logo. It's not so hard. Frankly you have more than enough landscape around the logo to avoid the thing. A lot of teams respect this even in their own port-a-potties. You can't tell me the Penguins are the first team you've encountered that have asked you to kindly remove your feet from their logo.
I can't guarantee it, but I'm pretty sure Rob Rossi or Joe Starkey wouldn't step on your logo. At the least they'd show a little respect and not label your locker room a port-a-potty. But whatever. Such is the superiority complex of a writer for a team that hails from "The State of Hockey."
Sorry the symbol that represents the sports team is held in higher regard than your own. We're sorry the Penguins' logo with a definitive Penguin ON the logo is held in higher regard than...whatever that thing is on yours. A bear? It's as if the person who created the Minnesota logo thought to themselves, "You know what would be REALLY Wild? If we took the head of some kind of animal and fit as much crap into the logo as possible. And we'll throw a stupid North Star in there as well to pay homage to the team that didn't survive here the first time."
John, you get one blessing. Everyone gets one. But please show a little respect next time.
Stick tap to Hockey Wilderness for this one...
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I thought
this was a pretty standard rule in all dressing rooms. I am curious though, how much room the Wild need in their locker room if the Penguins is so small. But then again, the Pens arena was built in ‘67 and the team has been around for decades and aren’t fortunate enough to have been relocated and then formed out of expansion.
It definitely is tradition in locker rooms. That’s what I don’t get when he reacts like it’s new to him. Then it makes me wonder how he even got a gig like that in the first place without having that sort of knowledge. But I digress…
True, a 1967 locker room will definitely not match up to the likes of a newer one built within the last 10-20 years. But hey, not all teams can have a tradition like the Pens. And while Pitt certainly doesn’t match up to the likes of a Toronto or Montreal franchise, 41 years of hockey still warrants just as much respect.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
Speaking of the arena
my company designed the retractable roof. I have spent a lot of time trying to locate the drawings before the new arena is built.
Oh man that would be so awesome if you could land those. Talk about one of a kind.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
That was my reaction: "Wait … this guy is a beat reporter? … in Minnesota? How does that happen? I thought for sure he must be a lifestyle guy doing a feature on, uh, NHL wardrobes or something.
My impression is that the locker room logo respect is standard — all the more so in new buildings and/or with newer teams. It’s an easy, quick, subtle way of establishing some franchise cohesion and continuity.
On a related note, the Blues currently run a jumbotron feature that shows that night’s opponent’s jersey being soiled, stepped on, used as a dog’s tug-of-war, etc. I’ve only seen it a few times, but it makes me queasy every time. Like Sunday, they did it with a freaking Canadiens jersey! Even with the RBK Edge, that’s more than I can stomach.
SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.
Eesh. Man, to think a team would stoop to that level. Where’s the respect? All St. Louis is doing is singling themselves out as a team that lacks class. I guess it ties in perfectly with their lack of wins as well.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
Too much...
Don’t put too much credit in Shipley’s words. The guy is a beat writer in Saint Paul, the city in which the Wild are located, but plays second fiddle to the beat writer in Minneapolis (Russo).
Fans here don’t even read his stuff, except when Russo refers to it.
On behalf of Wild fans, I apologize for him stepping on the logo. While I am not sure the Wild even have a logo on the floor, if they do, they should have a rule about stepping on it.
Props to whomever told him to get his dirty feet off the logo.
-Buddha
Hockey Wilderness
PS- If you think the logo is bad… you should see the mascot. Seriously, look him up. His name is “Nordy.”
The only way to avoid failure, is to learn from it.
Wow, that looks like a bear that wants to be a raccoon/wolf. I can’t make it out.
His position on the media food chain is pretty obvious. Anyone who writes about a hockey team, for a hockey team or even possesses a moderate level of hockey knowledge knows you never step on a team’s logo in the locker room. The Pens actually have fined people $100 for doing it. So Shipley probably got off easy when they realized he’s not the “real writer” for the paper.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
Ha Ha
I just looked up Nordy. He actually has his own official player page on the Wild’s site. Classic. But, to be fair I kinda like the Wild logo. I just don’t like the ex-NJ Devil’s Christmas color scheme.
Ah yes, the old christmas colors. The only people who like those are Devils fans. I’ve yet to meet one Devs fan who doesn’t want them back.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
Really?! Interesting. I always figured they preferred their black. Me, I wish they still had the green. I’ll always prefer some color variation among teams over the “none more blacker” that infects half the league.
Scott Stevens looked no less threatening with a splash of green.
SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.
I met Scott Stevens a long time ago. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and still possessed this stare as if he wanted to rip my heart out through my throat. Nice guy, but he just has this…stare.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
Haha, oh yeah. I remember seeing him walking out of a practice with that … look.
With all the crap that has happened in St. Louis, there is still not one wound more gaping among Blues fans than him being taken away after one season. It is like they were shown a fleeting glimpse of the gates of heaven before being shipped off to a truck stop for eternity. It was only 17 years ago though, so, you know … these things take time.
SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.
If anything, lucky for them that it wasn’t the same conference. I’m sure he would’ve taken some sick pleasure in rendering each and every guy on the Blues unconscious…
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
I meant that literally. If it weren’t for your link round up that little gem would’ve missed my eye.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
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